#yom-kippur

#yom-kippur

The attack on the Heaton Park Hebrew Congregation synagogue in Manchester was outrageous. It took two innocent lives, and several others were injured. Yet it could have happened almost anywhere. It is an event with wider national meaning and lessons. On Thursday morning, Britain looked over the edge into one of the dark places to which modern public life has been heading. Having looked and seen, Britain now needs to learn and step back.

Police have deployed additional officers around synagogues and Jewish communities in London after two people were killed in Manchester on the holiest day of the Jewish calendar. The Metropolitan Police said there was no indication of an increased threat to the capital but had taken precautionary measures, thought to be in areas such as Golders Green. While there is nothing

For most of my life, I attended reluctantly, dreading the long hours of prayer. I was proud to be Jewish, taking satisfaction in my people's survival and success despite the attempts to annihilate us. But I was also embarrassed by what I perceived as Judaism's weirdness and obsolescence: all those nitpicky laws, and that implausible, reward-and-punishment God I thought was portrayed in the liturgy.

Yom Kippur is the holiest day in Judaism, and it is often referred to as the Day of Atonement. It's a reflective holiday focused on repentance, forgiveness and spiritual renewal. It marks the culmination of the Ten Days of Repentance, which began with Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year. It begins at sunset on Wednesday, Oct. 1, and ends at nightfall on Thursday, Oct. 2.